Gov.'s budget plan slashes universities' spending

Associated Press

Published Thursday, January 23, 2003

TALLAHASSEE -- The University of North Florida announced a hiring freeze and several of the state's public universities began looking at ways to cut spending after Gov. Jeb Bush proposed slashing $111.5 million from their budgets for the next fiscal year.

Unless lawmakers decide against the cuts during the legislative session that convenes March 4, universities will have little choice but to increase tuition. Bush has already included a 7.5 percent tuition increase and given the schools the option to boost it another 5 percent.

"There are a lot of 'what ifs,'" Florida State University President T.K. Wetherell said Wednesday. "I'm hoping we don't have to lay anybody off."

The governor's $54 billion state spending plan for the fiscal year beginning July 1 would cut $111 million from the state universities' budgets.

Florida State would lose about $17.6 million if the governor's recommendations stand up.

"By the time everything shakes out, we'll have a budget and a system that works for everybody," predicted Wetherell, a former legislator who served as House speaker in 1990-92.

He said about 10,000 of the 15,000 students who are accepted would enroll next fall, roughly the same number as this school year.

While Wetherell was optimistic, other school officials expressed plenty of consternation about the governor's plan.

The University of Florida, which is the state's largest university and ranks third nationally with more than 47,000 students, is looking at a $30 million cut in the governor's recommendation.

"This is the first time I can remember that we haven't seen funding for enrollment growth," said university David Colburn said.

With a number of professors retiring in the spring and no money to replace them, Colburn worries about the effect it has on the classroom. "Our classes are too large for quality education," he said.

The University of North Florida in Jacksonville wasted no time announcing a hiring freeze and would delay its plans for adding new academic programs.

"What's happening here with our state budget shortfall is more of the cost of going to college is being transferred to the student," said North Florida interim president David Kline.

Bush, meanwhile, defended his decision to whack the universities' budgets.

"What I'm saying to parents that the best deal in the country may not be as good as it was last year, but it's still the best deal in the country," he said Wednesday.

If the cuts go through, the University of West Florida in Pensacola may have to cap enrollment, kill new programs it is set to put into effect and leave vacant faculty positions unfilled.

Provost and executive vice president Parks Dimsdale said West Florida already has more students on the books than the state is funding and had hoped to get compensatory funding from the state this year. West Florida has 8,922 students and has grown about 20 percent in the past three years.

Additionally, the governor's budget also eliminated another $76 million for building construction the schools were expecting in the next fiscal year.

"This is the beginning of the conversation and not the end," said Keith Goldschmidt, executive assistant to University of West Florida President John Cavanaugh. "The president plans to spend a lot of time in Tallahassee during the legislative session."